Early intervention for anxiety and phobic disorders in young children with intellectual disability

Funded Activity Summary

Children with intellectual disability (ID) are 2-3 times more likely to have behavioural and emotional disturbance, including anxiety and fears, than children of normal intellectual ability. Anxiety problems are a source of distress for the child, impair their ability to learn and are a cause of family burden and community cost. Therefore, effective interventions are urgently required. Research with non-disabled children has demonstrated the effectiveness of teaching parents to manage their child's anxiety, however the effectiveness of this approach in children with ID has not yet been established. This project aims to compare the relative effectiveness of two intervention conditions compared to a waiting list group, for highly anxious children aged 4-7 years with ID. One intervention will teach parents to help their child deal with anxiety problems, and develop skills to overcome their own associated emotional upset and family and social problems. The other intervention will provide non-directive counselling and support to help the parents understand the nature and causes of ID, associated anxiety problems in the child, and parent and family stress. The long term outcome of these two interventions will be assessed by following the children and their families for two years. A manual of each treatment is produced. This project aims to provide evidence for a relatively inexpensive, feasible and effective early intervention program for young children with ID at risk for developing anxiety problems that can be easily taught to professionals and is acceptable to parents. Widespread use of this intervention has the potential to reduce the added burden and cost to families and the community of persistent severe anxiety in young people with ID.

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 01-01-2000

End Date: 01-01-2002

Funding Scheme: NHMRC Project Grants

Funding Amount: $305,674.00

Funder: National Health and Medical Research Council

Research Topics

ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)

Vision science

ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)

There are no SEO codes available for this funding activity

Other Keywords

behaviour therapy | childhood anxiety | early intervention | mental retardation | panic disorders | parent skills training | phobic disorders and fears | randomized-controlled trial

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